In the popular Hindi movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, or even in the Mickey Mouse cartoon episode Al Rojo Vivo, you must have stumbled upon a peculiar festival celebrated all the way over in Spain using tomatoes. Believed to have originated in the 1940s, this festival is called La Tomatina, literally translated to ‘the tomato’!
How did it all start?
La Tomatina Festival began on the last Wednesday of August, 1945, when some young people gathered in the town square to watch the Giants and Big-Heads figures parade. During the festivities, one participant’s big head fell off, which made the participant fly into a fit of rage, and he began hitting everything in his path. There was a market stall of vegetables that fell victim to the rage of the crowd, as people started pelting each other with tomatoes until the local forces ended the fruit battle.
The following year, some young people staged a pre-planned fight and brought their tomatoes. Although the local forces broke it up, this marked the start of an annual tradition. Thousands of people followed in the boys’ footsteps over the years.
La Tomatina, a massive food fight held each year in the tiny town of Buñol, outside Valencia, Spain.
Did you know?
The citric acid in the tomatoes helps with the cleaning process, so some of the town’s surfaces are cleaner after being rinsed than they were before the event.
Two men lie in a puddle of squashed tomatoes during the annual “tomatina” tomato fight fiesta, in the village of Bunol.
What happens?
The day before the fight, there will be a paella (a popular Spanish rice dish) cooking contest near the town square, fireworks, and various music bands and parades through the medieval city centre. The first event before the tomato battle is the Palo Jabón. The game is centred on a long greased pole with a piece of ham at the top. The goal is for participants to climb the pole and drop the ham, which requires them to climb on top of one another. When the ham falls, the tomato battle begins. The tomato fight typically lasts an hour and leaves the town square covered in tomato debris. Fire trucks then hose down the streets, and participants often use hoses provided by locals to remove tomatoes from their bodies. Some participants also use the Los Peñones pool to wash.